Guide to Uzbek Rugs &
Textiles
The Uzbek are a remnant of the
Mongol Golden Horde that conquered Russia in the
thirteenth century. When Genghis Khan died in
1227 his empire was divided up in the great
Quraltai of 1229. Jochi the eldest son was given
the land furthest from the hearth, but since he
had died his heirs led by Berke took from the
Caucasus north into Russia and they were known as
the Golden Horde. The Golden Horde or Kipchaks
were led by Batu and Berke. Their younger brother
Shayban, who gained acclaim in the Mongolian
invasion of Hungary" split off and
established the Shaybanid Horde.
The next major event in Uzbek
history was when Uzbek Khan converted to Islam
and led the Shaybanid horde to Islam as well.
This caused the Shaybanid to also be called Uzbek
and over time Uzbek supplanted the older name. In
the later part of the 15th century the Shaybanid
Horde moved into Transoxiana (Turan) and by 1505
the Uzbeks usurped the Chagati Turks or Timurid
leadership and took the land much of which they
still inhabit today.
As the Uzbek took control of
Turkestan, northern Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and
parts of Khorasan this did not mean that the
indigenous people of the area left or were
killed. Many of the subjugated peoples of that
area primarily Sart and Turkic were absorbed into
the Uzbek. Other peoples such as the Turkmen kept
their ethno-linguistic identity.
Linguistically Uzbek is a
Turkic language. Uzbek is linguistically close to
Turkmen (Eastern Azeri). For political purposes
Russian scholars worked to accentuate the
differences to divide the Turkic peoples for the
Soviet political purposes. Uzbeks weave both pile
and flatweaves. Much
of Uzbek rug production I feel is incorrectly
labeled as Turkmen rugs.
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